Missouri educator selected to lead Oak Ridge schools

Missouri educator Bruce Borchers has tentatively accepted the job as superintendent of the Oak Ridge school system.

by Donna Smith/Staff

Missouri educator Bruce Borchers has tentatively accepted the job as superintendent of the Oak Ridge school system.

“We are in contract negotiations with Dr. Borchers,” Oak Ridge Board of Education Chairman Keys Fillauer said Tuesday morning, following Monday night’s unanimous vote by Board’s five members to offer the job to Borchers. The vote followed a day-long visit to Oak Ridge by Borchers, his wife, Channon, 16-year-old daughter Bailey and 13-year-old son Jack.

Fillauer said the school system’s human resources office is putting together a contract to present to Borchers, which will include a salary of $175,000. It will then be reviewed by the School Board’s lawyer and then sent on to Borchers, who is currently working as superintendent of the 22,000-student Rockwood School District in Eureka, Mo.

The $175,000 salary will be a pay cut for Borchers who is currently earning $234,000 annually, according to a story on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper website. According to the newspaper’s story, Borchers faced controversy soon after he was hired in 2010 relating to the hiring of consultants, the district’s existing relationship with a construction management firm, last year’s failed bond measure and a February state audit.

“We were informed of all that,” Fillauer said when asked about the reported controversies. He said the School Board was informed of the issues by employees of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based search firm of Ray and Associates Inc., which the Board hired to conduct a nationwide search for Oak Ridge’s new school chief. Fillauer said Borchers also volunteered the information when talking to the School Board. He said the School Board talked to him about the issues and he also individually talked to Borchers about the issues.

“We were not concerned, we thoroughly investigated that,” Fillauer said. “It was not a problem.”

Fillauer said he hopes Borchers and the School Board will have the contract accepted and finalized within the next two weeks. If he accepts the contract, the Board chairman said, the Board hopes he can be working for the city school system no later than June 15.

Interim School Superintendent Robert Smallridge’s contract expires on June 30 and if Borchers can go to work June 15 or earlier, the two could work together on the transition.

Borchers worked as associate superintendent of secondary schools in Anoka-Hennepin Schools in Coon Rapids, Minn., from 2008 to 2010. He previously worked as principal, assistant principal, guidance counselor and physical education teacher.

He was the Oak Ridge School Board’s top choice among three finalists interviewed last week for the job. This was the second search for a new school superintendent following former Superintendent Tom Bailey’s retirement in December.

On Tuesday, voters in Borchers’ area were going to the polls to vote on a $38.4 million bond issue and the re-election of two longtime School Board members, according to the St. Louis newspaper.

Donna Smith can be contacted at (865) 220-5502.

Missouri educator Bruce Borchers has tentatively accepted the job as superintendent of the Oak Ridge school system.

"We are in contract negotiations with Dr. Borchers," Oak Ridge Board of Education Chairman Keys Fillauer said Tuesday morning, following Monday night's unanimous vote by Board's five members to offer the job to Borchers. The vote followed a day-long visit to Oak Ridge by Borchers, his wife Channon, 16-year-old daughter Bailey and 13-year-old son Jack.

Fillauer said the school system's human resources office is putting together a contract to present to Borchers, which will include a salary of $175,000.

The $175,000 salary will be a pay cut for Borchers who is currently earning $234,000 annually, according to a story on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper website.